Dwarf Bittern

The Dwarf Bittern is a species of heron in the Ardeidae family. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Picture of the Dwarf Bittern has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution.
Original source: Mark Tittley
Author: Mark Tittley
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The Dwarf Bittern is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Dwarf Bittern (Ixobrychus sturmii) is a species of heron in the Ardeidae family. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. More

Dwarf Bitterns nest from December to March in KwaZulu-Natal, building a flimsy platform of twigs and grass stems, lowdown in thorn trees or bushes overhanging the water. The eggs can number two to five and are coloured white to pale blue or green. STATUS A breeding migrant from equatorial Africa, they are uncommon to rare. More

spotted the dwarf bittern on the edge, fishing. We first thought it must be a juvenile green-backed heron since they are very common birds at Kirkman More

Distribution of Dwarf bittern in southern Africa, based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird Atlas Project (© Animal Demography unit, University of Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common). See here for the latest distribution from the SABAP2. More

Dwarf Bittern determination Similar species Ardeidae American Bittern | Black-Crowned Night-Heron | Black-headed Heron | Cattle Egret | Dwarf Bittern | Great Bittern | Great Blue Heron | Great Egret | Green Heron | Grey Heron | Least Bittern | Little Bittern | Little Blue Heron | Little Egret | Purple Heron | Schrencks Bittern | More

African Dwarf Bittern (Ixobrychus sturmii) at Tenerife, Canary Islands, August 2002. Fourth for the Western Palearctic Photos by Ludovic Scalabre Text by Ricard Guti More

Other common names: African Dwarf Bittern, Rail Heron Taxonomy: Ardea Sturmii Wagler, 1827, Senegambia. Sometimes separated in monospecific genus Ardeirallus. Monotypic. Distribution: Africa S of Sahara, avoiding arid zones. More

For the purposes of our bird news services, Dwarf Bittern is classed as ungraded: species which are unlikely to appear as wild birds in Britain or Ireland (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance.) show section Products featuring Dwarf Bittern (1) BWPi DVD-ROM 2.0 (DRBWP: £135.95) show section External Links (0) We currently have no external links for this species. More

Order : Ciconiiformes
Family : Ardeidae
Genus : Ixobrychus
Species : sturmii
Authority : (Wagler, 1827)